What is a Sport?

The common argument on what is considered a sport is one that is very difficult to answer. There are many deciding factors in this and most of them are opinion based. For example, what factors of an activity are required to deem something a sport? Is there a certain level of competition required? Does there have to be a winner or a loser? Does a sport require a certain level of physical activity or could it be completely mental like a spelling bee? The definition of what is, and is not a sport is a very vague topic and is very much up for debate.

            When it comes down to what is or is not a sport, the level of physical activity is very much a topic up for debate. One would argue that that a sport requires a sport to have vigorous level of activity such as football, hockey, wrestling, etc. This idea would suggest that activities such as golf, bowling, and ping pong are not sports. Most would agree that this idea is indeed false. I would purpose that a sport does have to have some level of physical activity but it does not by any means have to be vigorous. Sports such as baseball and hockey do not have the same level activity but are both definitely sports, therefore this disproves the previous idea. Not only is there a debate on if a sport requires a certain level of physical activity, but there is also the argument of if there has to be a winner or loser.

            The argument on whether or not there has to be a winner or loser in a sport is very simple. Having a winner and a loser in a sport is not always accurate because this would suggest that there is always an opponent. This would suggest that lifting and activities in which you strive to beat your own records are not sports. This is very much false because the competitive portion is still there. Therefore, a sport does not require an opposition, but must maintain the competitive aspect even if the individual athlete is not participating in a competitive manner. The idea that a sport is required to have some competitive aspect to it does indeed complicate things. That would suggest that activities such as video gaming, chess, etc. are all sports although they do not have a high level of physical activity. This leads into the next argument in which whether or not a sport can be mental.

            The argument of whether or not a sport can be a mental is very interesting. Obviously all sports, no matter how simple, require some level of mental capacity along with physical ability. But is it possible for a sport to be 95 percent mental like in a game of chess, or in video gaming. Obviously they require some level of hand-eye coordination, but are they sports? Based on our previous argument in which if a sport has to be somewhat physical, would disprove this. But the other argument suggesting that there has to be a competitive edge would support this. This makes it very tricky. Where do we draw the line of physical activity that is required to be a sport? This will remain unknown, but I will stick to my guns and support the argument that chess and games of the like are indeed not sports because of their lack of physical activity although an immense amount of skill is involved. Determining what is and is not a sport is a very tricky subject and will most likely be argued for years to come.